The devotion to open-space around Stanford/Palo Alto actually comes out of the backlash to all the highway construction in the 50s and 60s. I find it odd to see opposition to big government programs described as "liberalism".
And here I thought it was because Stanford owns over 8,000 acres and is exempt from paying state property taxes on it. :) Cite: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/business/california-scruti...
I see this was published in a Dallas based newspaper. Ok, I'd like to go build a 20 story cinderblock apartment building called "the proletarian towers" in the middle of a wealthy, republican-leaning Dallas suburb. Hey, I bought the land, I should get to do what I feel like with it, right?
I was there in 2002 and there were people running mini mart stores out of their front porches, in a completey residential neighborhood.